The Mammoth Hunters - Jean M. Auel [357]
“The mamuti would like to talk to you. They want you to help with the Call to bring the mammoths, Ayla,” he said. “They think if you spoke to the Spirit Mammoth, she would be willing to give us many.”
“But I already told you. I don’t have any special powers,” Ayla pleaded. “I don’t want to talk to them.”
“I know, Ayla. I explained that you may have a Calling talent, but you are untrained. They insist that I ask you. After they saw you ride the lion and tell him to go, they are convinced that you would have a strong influence on the Spirit Mammoth, trained or not.”
“That was Baby, Mamut. The lion I raised. I couldn’t do that with just any lion.”
“Why do you speak of that lion as though you are his mother?” a voice said from the entrance. A large figure was standing there. “Are you his mother?” Lomie said, coming into the tent at Mamut’s beckoning gesture.
“In a way, I guess. I raised him from a cub. He was hurt, he’d been caught in a stampede and kicked in the head. I call him Baby because he was just a baby when I found him. I never named him anything else. He was always just Baby, even when he got big,” Ayla explained. “I don’t know how to Call animals, Lomie.”
“Then why did that lion appear, at a most providential moment, if you didn’t Call him?” Lomie asked.
“It was just by chance. There’s nothing mysterious about it. He probably picked up my scent, or Whinney’s scent, and came looking for me. He used to come back for a visit sometimes, even after he found a mate and his own pride. Ask Jondalar.”
“If he wasn’t under special influence, why didn’t he hurt that girl? She didn’t have any ‘mother’ relationship with him. She said he knocked her down, and she thought he was going to eat her, but he only licked her face.”
“I think the only reason he stopped that girl was that she looks a little like me. She’s tall, and has blond hair. He grew up with a person, not with other lions, so he thinks of people as his family. And he always used to trip me or knock me down when he hadn’t seen me for a while, if I didn’t stop him. It’s his way of being playful. He wanted to be hugged, and scratched,” Ayla explained. She noticed that the tent had filled up with mamuti, while she was talking.
Wymez stepped back out of the way with a sly smile on his face. She wouldn’t go to them, so they came to her, he thought. He frowned when he noticed Vincavec edging in closer. It would be hard on Ranec if Ayla decided to choose him instead. He had never seen the son of his hearth so upset as when he learned of Vincavec’s offer. Wymez had to admit, it had upset him, too.
Vincavec watched Ayla as she answered the questions. He was not easily overwhelmed. He was, after all, headman and Mamut, and privy to the schemes of temporal influence as well as the guises of supernatural power. But like the other mamuti, he was called to the Mammoth Hearth because he felt an urge to explore deeper dimensions, to discover and explain the reasons beyond appearances, and he could be moved by a truly inexplicable mystery, or demonstration of manifest power.
From their first meeting, he had sensed a mystery about Ayla that intrigued him, and a quality of quiet strength, as though her mettle had already been tested. His interpretation was that the Mother watched out for her, and that was why her problem would be resolved. But he’d had no inkling of the means, and he was genuinely surprised at the result. He knew no one would dream of opposing her now, or those who sheltered her. Nor would anyone object to her background, or the son she once bore. Her power was too great. Whether she would